Monsters vs Robots - what's not to like?

Rating: 9/10 (19 July 2013)

Giant monsters are rising from below the sea, and huge robots driven by pairs of human pilots are constructed in order to fight them. This film - a straightforward blend of Godzilla, Cloverfield, Transformers and Independence Day, with a cheerful disregard for anything approximating the laws of physics - contained a number of elements which made me wrinkle my brow quizzically, and much which I liked a lot. It didn't have anything I outright disliked.
So what made me grimace? One, I thought Idris Elba's character was very badly conceived: an individual in that situation would never blow so hot and cold. Two, the caucasian young men heroes were interchangeable: I couldn't tell one from another. They looked the same and acted the same. Three, in this digital age, I didn't find the vast mechanical linkages in the Jaegers credible - surely there would be some digital body suit? Four, the comedy relief scientists were incredibly annoying.
On the other hand, I very much liked the way this film started as if it were the second in a series, with a recap of the origin movie given as a brief voice-over at the start. I liked Rinko Kikuchi's quiet intensity as Mako, and I loved her flashback sequence with the phenomenal young Mana Ashida as young Mako. And, as successor to the Japanese Godzilla movies of the 50s and 60s wherein men in rubber costumes had slo-mo punch-ups in model cities, the movie has spectacular visual effects in which the giant action is completely credible. The whole thing is done with incredible slickness and modest likability.
So get out the popcorn, put on the 3D specs, and enjoy 2 hours of giant monsters and robots beating the bejeebers out of each other. And you don't need to get your brain involved in the slightest!